1. OTC-26043-MS
Performance Standards: Bridging the Gap between Safety Cases and
Safety Critical Equipment
T. Schwartz, H. Fix, Life Cycle Engineering
Copyright 2015, Offshore Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 4–7 May 2015.
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
The pressure to operate safely in risk-sensitive industries such as oil and gas is always present, with many offshore drillers
still struggling to define and practice effective safety-driven maintenance principles on a routine basis, given the dynamic and
inherently dangerous nature of drilling hazards. This has given rise to the concept of establishing a performance-based
approach to safety to directly tie global and regulatory standards to preventive maintenance tasks in the form of performance
standards.
Introduction
What are performance standards and why do we need them? Leading offshore oil and gas drilling contractors are creating
performance standards to reference the systems and controls in place used to mitigate the risk of Major Accident Events
(MAEs), monitor asset performance with Critical Operating Parameters (COPs) and provide a means to continuously assess
regulatory driven maintenance requirements.
Performance standards are created to serve as the “Golden Thread” to link Safety Cases and Preventive Maintenance
procedures for Safety Critical Equipment (SCE) on offshore oil and gas drilling units. Acceptance criteria and operating
parameters are being referenced in the standards to designate which MAE control measures are in place with the goal to
reduce the risk of major accident events to ALARP “as low as reasonably practicable”.
Figure 1 shows an example section of a performance standard listing preventative maintenance control measures reducing the
risk of MAEs connected to that system.
Figure 1: Example MAE Section of a Performance Standard

2. 2 OTC-26043-MS
Every performance standard should be coupled with a comprehensive safety case and adequate maintenance plans providing
clearly defined acceptance standards allowing measuring, monitoring, trending, and appropriate corrective actions as
necessary. Performance standards can also be linked via Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software linking trending data straight to the safety critical equipment.
Regulatory bodies such as the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA)
are auditing for offshore oil and gas platform performance standards because they recognize the importance and value they
bring to improving rig safety and environmental protection. Oil and gas drilling contractors need to recognize that
performance standards are quickly becoming the regulatory driven model for offshore drilling units and will be audited more
strictly moving forward.
Safety cases must be accurate and need to include an up to date in-depth description of the facility, risk management
procedures, safety critical system’s functional requirements as well as root-cause failure prevention analysis for each system.
It is imperative for the preventative maintenance job plans to include regulatory driven maintenance requirements, equipment
manufacturer routine maintenance procedures as well as industry standard best practices.
In the oil and gas industry every cost reduction opportunity is crucial and many leading drilling contractors at the head of
preventative maintenance are using the regulatory required Critical Operating Parameters and performance standards to their
advantage. Even though regulatory COPs initially seem burdensome, leading asset management companies are using the
parameters to their advantage to monitor asset performance. By monitoring asset integrity and equipment performance with
the use of rig asset integrity dashboards, drilling companies are not only meeting regulatory requirements but also benefiting
from the financial gains of reduced downtime and equipment costs. Figure 2 is an example of how critical assets can be
monitored not only for health conditions, but also business performance impacts. Typically, these parameters are only being
used in the operation of the rigs, but the opportunity to leverage the data to optimize maintenance and resource planning also
exists.
Figure 2: Graphic of an Asset Integrity Dashboard
Regulatory Considerations
NOPSEMA has given basic guidelines to follow for developing performance standards. The baseline measures in
performance standards for the controls in place used to reduce the risk of MAEs to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP)
include maintaining control of facility and safety critical equipment Functionality (Ability to function in various
circumstances), Availability (Percentage of time capable of performing its function), Reliability (Probability system will
function correctly), Survivability (Ability to survive potential damaging events), Dependency (Degree of reliance on other
systems), and Compatibility (Compatibility with other control measures). Each of the control measures used in a performance
standard follow the SMART principle to ensure that that they are Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Timely.

3. OTC-26043-MS 3
Figure 3 shows the relationship between Formal Safety Assessments (FSAs) and ongoing operations and risk management.
These are linked through the process of developing performance standards and their continual improvement over time.
Figure 3: Performance Standards and Continuous Improvement (NOPSEMA, 2012)
Concluding Remarks
In summary, performance standards serve a critical role in establishing and sustaining the integrity of the Major Accident
Event control measures by defining and verifying regulatory compliance. Drilling contractors are mitigating the risk of
MAEs by bridging safety cases and preventive maintenance programs through traceability achieved through implementation
of performance standards. Regulatory bodies are requiring the use of performance standards in order to help improve the
visibility of the control measures in place to reduce the risk of MAEs to protect people and the environment.
Each performance standard provides the direct link between a comprehensive safety case and applicable maintenance plans
providing clearly defined acceptance standards thereby allowing measuring, monitoring, trending, and appropriate corrective
actions as necessary. Leveraging the pertinent information captured within a safety case, performance standards are
developed and then implemented within preventive maintenance tasks through a CMMS. Combined with a formalized best
practice review process, the CMMS is utilized to quantitatively analyze the effectiveness of the implementation of the
performance standards.
References:
NOPSEMA Guidance Note N04300-GN0271, Control Measures and Performance Standards, Revision No 4, December 2012